Fountains Earth Primary School in North Yorkshire to close due to lack of pupils

Fountains Earth Church of England Primary School will close at the end of March. Credit: Local Democracy Reporting

A North Yorkshire primary school without a single pupil will permanently close in less than a fortnight.

Fountains Earth Church of England Primary School in Lofthouse, near Pateley Bridge, will officially shut on 31 March after the local council approved its closure.

Pupil numbers fell from 20 in 2017 to 10 in 2022 before parents, worried about a lack of social interaction, pulled the remaining children out of the school.

At a North Yorkshire Council meeting on 19 March in Northallerton, Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Murday put forward a plea to delay the closure and instead investigate the federation responsible for the school.

Fountains Earth is part of Upper Nidderdale Federation alongside St Cuthbert’s Church of England Primary School in Pateley Bridge and Glasshouses Community Primary School.

The school had received a 'good' rating from Ofsted in 2022. Credit: Google

Cllr Murday said: "Families have put houses up for sale because the school’s not there.

"It's a chicken and egg situation. Rural schools are important for communities and they gain something from being small and within the community."

Executive member for finance Cllr Gareth Dadd said keeping a school open with such few potential pupils "would be doing a disservice to those children."

The council's legal officer Barry Khan suggested it would be out of its remit to investigate governance at the federation.

On conditions at the school leading up to its closure, Amanda Newbold, assistant director for education and skills at North Yorkshire Council, said: "Four to 11-year-olds were being taught in one class.

"This was a challenge for the one member of staff who then moved on and the school struggled to recruit. They relied on agency staff or other teachers from the federation.

"When a child became the only one in their year group, the parents wanted to move them to schools with other children their own age to prepare for secondary school."

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for education Annabel Wilkinson said "nobody wants to close a small school" and called it "a very hard decision."

The school's catchment area will now become part of St Cuthbert’s Church of England Primary School in Pateley Bridge.

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